This post is about a Malta-flagged commercial ship called The Ruby. She's apparently a sadly derelict creature. The Norwegians who crawled over her when she anchored after radioing for shelter permission in their waters...

...According to the tracking data on MarineTraffic, the Maltese flagged Ruby sailed out of Kandalaksha on August 22 with Las Palmas in the Atlantic as destination.

Outside the coast of northern Norway, Ruby got problems. On Monday August 26 and called for permission to sail into sheltered waters. At the time, a storm with wind up to 25-30 meters per second hit the coast and waves were high.

Spokesperson Hanne Olafsen with the Norwegian Joint Headquarters says to the Barents Observer that port of refuge was granted for the vessel. 

“The military approved place of shelter based on the application.”

According to newspaper Nordlys, the vessel stayed inside Vannøya north of Tromsø for several days before she on Sunday was escorted by two Norwegian tugs to port in Tromsø.

The Ruby sailed into Tromsø with own engines and it is It is not immediately clear what emergency the ship claims.

... took note of such deficiencies as multiple cracks in the hull along with a damaged rudder and propeller. These naturally gave rise to some concern about The Ruby's seaworthiness. It became even more concerning to the Norwegians when they discovered what cargo The Ruby - now safely berthed alongside the university and hospital in the city that rings the Tromsø harbor - had onboard. 

Authorities wanted the piece of crap vessel on its way, stat.

When I first started reading a truly fascinating thread on this last night, twisted as I am, the thing that popped into my head was the tragic Harry Chapin song, Thirty Thousand Pounds of Bananas.

Weird connection, right? Not exactly.

To their utter horror, The Ruby, Norwegians found out, is carrying 20,000 tons of ammonium nitrate.

TWENTY THOUSAND TONS OF AMMONIUM NITRATE

In case anyone has a vague idea of the significance but isn't quite sure, lemme paint a quick picture:

For comparison sake, this was the Port of Beirut blast four years ago ~ 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate.

This vessel is carrying more than seven times that amount.

Norway booted The Ruby from the harbor to a strategic anchorage, but not before people started taking note of some other unsettling features.

RUBY, cargo ship loaded with 20k tons of potentially highly explosive ammonium nitrate, with a shady Russian backstory, is anchored on Norways northeast coast.

This is some of the surrounding installations around her. Positions appr.

Thought I'd illustrate list by @InaHPKvam https://t.co/9cEsapNDkj pic.twitter.com/50xr5CJxwn

— auonsson (@auonsson) September 13, 2024

Ammonium nitrate is one of the shadow commercial enterprises the Russians are conducting to keep money flowing into war-depleted coffers. Most of the country's production comes out of the far north and transits through the Baltic. That route also helps keep Russian eyes - however they're painted as innocent commercial shipping - on strategic NATO bases and ports in the area.

...Russia counts for two-third of the global production of ammonium nitrate, and although many countries have banned the sale of it as fertiliser, others are buying big loads exported out of the northern harbour of Kandalaksha.

The Ruby slowly got underway at last but shortly thereafter lost propulsion to begin drifting. The ship requested that they be able to pull in and make repairs in a Lithuanian port and were politely rebuffed until the ship could find another port to off-load their explosive cargo to first.

"The captain of Ruby, currently moored off the coast of Norway and carrying about 20,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, would like to carry out repairs on his cargo ship in Lithuania’s Klaipėda Port."

Remember Beirut? If that explodes it would approximate a tactical nuclear weapon. pic.twitter.com/UMtsJ8ZtZ1

— Andy Scollick (@Andy_Scollick) September 13, 2024

Scandinavian spidey senses - and sincere alarm bells -have gone off-the-charts wild.

Bomb/fertilizer ship RUBY look like she has lost propulsion. She broadcasts "Not under command" on AIS.

She is right outside Bergen, home to important naval base Haakonsvern and a large part of Norway's oil/marine/fishing industry. Very convenient.

Weather is super calm. pic.twitter.com/hSYifyDsTm

— auonsson (@auonsson) September 18, 2024

She's now without any power, her crew is reported to have no papers (?!), and the ship whose cargo's explosive potential has been compared to Hiroshima is being towed toward the Danish Strait of the Great Belt, a tricky passage in the best times with a fully functioning vessel.

...Despite these issues, the vessel, registered in Malta, has continued its journey with tug assistance. It is expected to pass through the Danish Strait of the Great Belt, a challenging and narrow waterway, before the weekend.

According to reports, the ship’s captain has not requested pilot services for navigating the strait.

Analysts, including Jacob Kaarsbo of Danish think tank Think Tank Europe, have expressed concerns that Ruby may be part of Russia’s broader strategy of hybrid warfare, citing its connections to Syria and Russia.

After departing from Kandalaksha, a Russian port in the Murmansk region, the ship anchored near NATO’s strategically important Andøya airbase for several days, raising further suspicions.

Denmark, already dealing with a “shadow fleet” of Russian tankers circumventing sanctions, now faces added pressure to handle this precarious situation. Experts stress the need for NATO allies to coordinate a strategy to address the risks posed by Ruby and other similarly vulnerable vessels.

..
* DK authorities will "keep a close eye on it"
* Analyst/former defence intel officer @JKaarsbo generally agrees with my previous conclusions: high risk, fishy actions.
Full article: https://t.co/5MaalNvQLJ

— auonsson (@auonsson) September 18, 2024

There is a tremendously good summation of the strategic implications in this Xweet.

The Ruby: A Floating Time Bomb Near Norway’s Critical Infrastructure

The Ruby, a Malta-flagged Russian-linked cargo ship, currently floats off Norway's northeast coast, casting a long shadow over the region's security and environmental landscape. Laden with a staggering 20,000… pic.twitter.com/escPf70CXC

— Niels Groeneveld (@nigroeneveld) September 18, 2024

I'll excerpt just a bit here:

...Ammonium nitrate, the Ruby's cargo, is widely used in agriculture as a fertilizer and in industry as an ingredient for explosives. Under stable conditions, the chemical is relatively safe. However, when subjected to extreme heat, shock, or contamination, it becomes highly volatile. The scale of the risk cannot be understated: 20,000 tons is more than seven times the quantity of ammonium nitrate that detonated in the tragic Beirut explosion of 2020, an event that left large portions of the Lebanese capital in ruins. Experts have noted that a similar explosion from the Ruby could cause devastation comparable to the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, capable of flattening vast areas and causing widespread loss of life. This makes the ship a ticking time bomb as it drifts perilously close to sensitive infrastructure. In particular, the Norwegian government and NATO are increasingly alarmed by the ship’s position, as the Norwegian coastline hosts key military assets that form part of the broader Western defense architecture. 

Proximity to Norway’s Strategic Military Infrastructure 

The Ruby’s location near Bergen places it alarmingly close to critical installations. Bergen is home to the Naval Base Haakonsvern, Norway’s largest military port and a key site for its maritime defense operations. The base is not only Norway’s premier naval installation, but also a cornerstone of NATO’s regional security framework. Any explosion from the Ruby could cripple Norway's naval capabilities and disrupt NATO’s strategic readiness in the North Atlantic and Arctic regions.

His somber conclusion:

...The world is watching as Norwegian authorities, backed by their NATO allies, attempt to neutralize this floating time bomb. If successful, the incident will serve as a critical case study in crisis management and international cooperation. If not, the consequences could be catastrophic—not just for Norway, but for Europe and beyond. 

In the meantime, the Ruby continues to drift, an ominous reminder of the thin line between safety and disaster in a world increasingly shaped by geopolitical strife and environmental risk. As the ship remains a high-risk floating bomb, the urgency to act decisively has never been more critical.

It is a stark reminder that Putin doesn't need conventional warfare - he only needs "fishing boats" to take out undersea cables and commercial cargo vessels to threaten vital facilities.

In the meantime, The Ruby meanders along down the Norwegian coastline towards Denmark. God willing, there will be an offload and repairs in her future.

I sincerely hope the heroic figures in the tug have employed a tow cable that is miles long.

This is surreal.